Three new pastors join Woodland congregations

When Christin Norman stepped off the plane at the Sacramento airport on the morning of Dec. 29, she was excited to be the new pastor of Woodland Presbyterian Church, but she wasn't expecting how excited the church congregation would be to meet their first full-time pastor in 10 years.

As she and her husband, Will, reached the lobby, they were welcomed by decorated homemade signs that read "Welcome Home Christin and Will" and 17 members of the church who waited for them to arrive.

"It was overwhelming and surprising," said Norman, adding that the church members waited at the airport even though their plane was late. Norman, who moved from Georgia to pastor the church, said that for two weeks after she arrived, she and her husband did not have to cook a single meal because of the church's generosity.

"It's just been like that, an overwhelming welcome."

But Norman is not the only new pastor that has been welcomed into Woodland recently. In the past year, three new pastors have arrived in Woodland, all of them relatively young for their profession.

Rev. Wendy Watson, pastor of St. Luke's Episcopal Church and head of the Woodland Ecumenical Ministries, said that while the timing of the influx of new pastors in Woodland is coincidental, the young age of the pastors is not.

"When you go into churches, you are going to find lots of gray hairs," she said. "Churches are consciously choosing the younger generation. It's a sign of the church trying to renew itself and speak to people of a different generation."

Norman, confident and well-spoken, is only 26 years old, and joins the church after the previous pastor, Kathy McIntosh-Smith, retired due to age after years of serving the Presbyterian church part-time. Norman believes her age is a positive aspect of her new role.

"It's energizing to be in this place in a new time of transition," she said. "I'm the youngest person in this church by about 10 years, but the church is excited about that, having someone who is young and we're both learning together. It's an exciting time to jump in with them."

Also excited about her new role with her church is Rev. Elizabeth Brick, who became the pastor of United Methodist Church last July after the previous pastor, Ardith Allread, retired due to age. Brick, 43, said she loves the history of the church, which was established in the 1860s.

"It adds a lot of dimension. People can tell you the history, and they have a strong sense of ownership and investment in the community," she said. "Sometimes it's hard to move yourself outside of tradition and into something new, but it's also so wonderful to have people who are founded in their faith, whose grandparents and their great grandparents were a part of this movement."

Brick, a redhead who wears a necklace featuring the Methodist logo, said that despite an older congregation, the church still has a strong group of young adults.

"But I inherited that, I can't take credit for it," said Brick as she laughed. Brick added she is encouraged by the rising number of women who are in seminary and becoming pastors, recalling her own story and call to ministry.

"I was 12 when I was called to ministry, but I got a lot of messages that girls couldn't be pastors, so I abandoned my dreams and abandoned God's call for me," she said. She added that after she moved to Fresno she couldn't escape her ministry call and decided to pursue it. "I learned that saying yes to God was the most powerful thing I could do to make my life whole."

Another new Woodland pastor, Cory Johnson, 38, said he felt the call to ministry when he was in high school. "God opened my eyes to a sense of calling to ministry," he said.

After 14 years serving a church in Folsom, Johnson became the new pastor for Bayside Church in Woodland, filling the role left by Pastor John Withem, the church's founder, who died in November 2012 after a nine-month battle with cancer.

Johnson recognizes the impact Withem had on the church and city, and wants to use his youthful approach to continue the work of his predecessor. "He definitely had big shoes that he left behind. He is well loved still to this day, and he really left a legacy," Johnson said of Withem, whose funeral had 1,000 guests. "I think that his vision was for reaching out to and caring about this community, and in a sense to come and step into his shoes, it doesn't feel overwhelming because that's also what I want to do. I'm asking what does Jesus want us to do in this community."

Johnson said that his age, 20 years younger than Withem was at death, can be helpful to his church.

"If you're going to continue to be a growing church, you have to welcome in younger people to be a part of it," he said. "Oftentimes the older generations have built the church and there's a sense of ownership and they have relinquish that and say hey, we recognize that we want our children and our grandchildren to be a part of this and get to lead part of it."

Rev. Watson sees the shift as a positive aspect to church growth.

"The church does things that no one else does," she said. "Every generation we get to start again. If we choose not to start again, then we die."